20th Century Studios' upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has rounded out its cast with the addition of Shameless actor William H. Macy.
Deadline (via SFFGazette.com) confirmed Macy's casting, but don't have any details on his role.
Macy can currently be seen in the U.S. remake of Shameless, and has featured in numerous film and TV projects over the years, winning two Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Fargo.
The actor has mostly avoided genre fare, but has appeared in Jurassic Park III and Mystery Men.
Owen Teague (It, The Stand) will star as "lead ape" in KOTPOTA, and the studio recently announced that production will commence at some point this month with Freya Allan (The Witcher), Eka Darville (Jessica Jones) and Peter Macon (The Orville) on board. Wes Ball (The Maze Runner) will direct.
You can check out the recently released concept art below.
This film starts an all-new chapter in the Planet of the Apes saga, picking up many years after the conclusion of 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes. The screenplay is by Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds), Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and Patrick Aison (Prey). Joe Hartwick Jr. (The Maze Runner trilogy), Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Jason Reed (Mulan) are the film’s producers. Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping are the executive producers.
Steve Asbell, President 20th Century Studios said, “’Planet of the Apes’ is one of the most iconic and storied science fiction franchises in film history, as well as being an indelible part of our studio’s legacy. With ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ we are privileged to continue the series’ tradition of imaginative, thought-provoking cinema, and can’t wait to share Wes’ extraordinary vision for this new chapter with audiences in 2024.”
The iconic franchise was rebooted (although the movies also served as prequels) back in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and the new trilogy wrapped-up in 2017's superb War for the Planet of the Apes. Although there is plenty of room to continue the story, we weren't sure if this new instalment would be a follow-up or a full reboot. Based on the official description above, we're leaning towards the former.